Search results for: soil moisture measurement

Authors: Diemas Purnama Muhammad Firman Pratama, Denny Maulana Malik

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Development of Jatigede Dam that was the mega project in Indonesia, since 1963. Area of around Jatigede Dam is complex, it has structural geology active fault, and as possible can occur landslide. This research focus on soil test. The purpose of this research to know soil quality Jatigede Dam which caused by water seepage of Jatigede Dam, then can be made seepage modelling around Jatigede Dam including Cisampih Village. Method of this research is SRW (Soil Reaction to Water). There are three samples are taken nearby Jatigede Dam. Four paramaters to determine water seepage such as : V ( velocity of soil to release water), Dl (Ability of soil to release water), Ds (Ability of soil to absorb water), Dt (Ability of soil to hold water). meanwhile, another proscess of interaction beetween water and soil are produced angle, which is made of water flow and vertikal line. Called name SIAT. SIAT has two type is na1 and na2. Each samples has a value from the first sample is 280,333(degree), the second 270 (degree) and the third 270 (degree). The difference na1 is, water interaction towards Dt value angle, while na2 is water interaction towards Dl and Ds value angle. Result of calculating SRW method, first till third sample has a value 7, 11,5 and 9. Based on data, interpreted in around teritory of Jatigede Dam, will get easier impact from water seepage because, condition soil reaction too bad so, it can not hold water.

Keywords: Jatigede Dam, Cisampih village, water seepage, soil quality

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Authors: Shreya Thusoo, Karan Modi, Rajesh Kumar, Hitesh Madahar

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Over the years, it has been extensively established that the practice of assuming a structure being fixed at base, leads to gross errors in evaluation of its overall response due to dynamic loadings and overestimations in design. The extent of these errors depends on a number of variables; soil type being one of the major factor. This paper studies the effect of Soil Structure Interaction (SSI) on multi-storey buildings with varying under-laying soil types after proper validation of the effect of SSI. Analysis for soft, stiff and very stiff base soils has been carried out, using a powerful Finite Element Method (FEM) software package ANSYS v14.5. Results lead to some very important conclusions regarding time period, deflection and acceleration responses.

Keywords: dynamic response, multi-storey building, soil-structure interaction, varying soil types

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Authors: Sukhwinder Singh, Julian Park, Dinesh Kumar Benbi

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Although soil health, which is recognized as one of the key determinants of sustainable agricultural development, can be measured by a range of physical, chemical and biological parameters, the widely used parameters include pH, electrical conductivity (EC), organic carbon (OC), plant available phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). Soil health is largely affected by the occurrence of natural events or human activities and can be improved by various land management practices. A database of 120 soil samples collected from farmers’ fields spread across three major agro-climatic zones of Punjab suggested that the average pH, EC, OC, P and K was 8.2 (SD = 0.75, Min = 5.5, Max = 9.1), 0.27 dS/m (SD = 0.17, Min = 0.072 dS/m, Max = 1.22 dS/m), 0.49% (SD = 0.20, Min = 0.06%, Max = 1.2%), 19 mg/kg soil (SD = 22.07, Min = 3 mg/kg soil, Max = 207 mg/kg soil) and 171 mg/kg soil (SD = 47.57, Min = 54 mg/kg soil, Max = 288 mg/kg soil), respectively. Region-wise, pH, EC and K were the highest in south-western district of Ferozpur whereas farmers in north-eastern district of Gurdaspur had the best soils in terms of OC and P. The soils in the central district of Barnala had lower OC, P and K than the respective overall averages while its soils were normal but skewed towards alkalinity. Besides agro-climatic conditions, the size of landholding and farmer education showed a significant association with Soil Fertility Index (SFI), a composite index calculated using the aforementioned parameters’ normalized weightage. All the four stakeholder groups cited the current cropping patterns, burning of rice crop residue, and imbalanced use of chemical fertilizers for change in soil health. However, the current state of soil health in Punjab is unclear, which needs further investigation based on temporal data collected from the same field to see the short and long-term impacts of various crop combinations and varied cropping intensity levels on soil health.

Keywords: soil health, punjab agriculture, sustainability, soil fertility index

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Authors: Daniel Osieko Okach, Joseph Otieno Ondier, Gerhard Rambold, John Tenhunen, Bernd Huwe, Dennis Otieno

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Increased human activities such as grazing, logging, and agriculture alongside unpredictable rainfall patterns have been detrimental to the ecosystem service delivery, therefore compromising its productivity potential. This study aimed at simulating the impact of drought (50%) and enhanced rainfall (150%) on the future herbaceous CO2 uptake, biomass production and soil C:N dynamics in a humid savanna ecosystem influenced by livestock grazing. Rainfall pattern was predicted using manipulation experiments set up to reduce (50%) and increase (150%) ambient (100%) rainfall amounts in grazed and non-grazed plots. The impact of manipulated rainfall regime on herbaceous CO2 fluxes, biomass production and soil C:N dynamics was measured against volumetric soil water content (VWC) logged every 30 minutes using the 5TE (Decagon Devices Inc., Washington, USA) soil moisture sensors installed (at 20 cm soil depth) in every plots. Herbaceous biomass was estimated using destructive method augmented by standardized photographic imaging. CO2 fluxes were measured using the ecosystem chamber method and the gas analysed using LI-820 gas analyzer (USA). C:N ratio was calculated from the soil carbon and Nitrogen contents (analyzed using EA2400CHNS/O and EA2410 N elemental analyzers respectively) of different plots under study. The patterning of VWC was directly influenced by the rainfall amount with lower VWC observed in the grazed compared to the non-grazed plots. Rainfall variability, grazing and their interaction significantly affected changes in VWC (p < 0.05) and subsequently total biomass and CO2 fluxes. VWC had a strong influence on CO2 fluxes under 50% rainfall reduction in the grazed (r2 = 0.91; p < 0.05) and ambient rainfall in the ungrazed (r2 = 0.77; p < 0.05). The dependence of biomass on VWC across plots was enhanced under grazed (r2 = 0.78 - 0.87; p < 0.05) condition as compared to ungrazed (r2 = 0.44 - 0.85; p < 0.05). The C:N ratio was however not correlated to VWC across plots. This study provides insight on how the predicted trends in humid savanna will respond to changes influenced by rainfall variability and livestock grazing and consequently the sustainable management of such ecosystems.

Keywords: CO2 fluxes, rainfall manipulation, soil properties, sustainability

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Authors: Fathi Ali Swaid

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The CBR test is widely used in the assessment of granular materials in base, subbase and subgrade layers of road and airfield pavements. Despite the success of this method, but it depends on a limited numbers of soil samples. This limitation do not adequately account for the spatial variability of soil properties. Thus, assessment is derived using these cursory soil data are likely to contain errors and thus make interpretation and soil characterization difficult. On the other hand quantitative methods of soil inventory at the field scale involve the design and adoption of sampling regimes and laboratory analysis that are time consuming and costly. In the latter case new technologies are required to efficiently sample and observe the soil in the field. This is particularly the case where soil bearing capacity is prevalent, and detailed quantitative information for determining its cause is required. In this paper, an electrical resistivity method DC is described and its application in Elg'deem Dirt road, located in Gasser Ahmad - Misurata, Libya. Results from the DC instrument were found to be correlated with the CBR values (r2 = 0.89). Finally, it is noticed that, the correlation can be used with experience for determining CBR value using basic soil electrical resistivity measurements and checked by few CBR test representing a similar range of CBR.

Keywords: California bearing ratio, basic soil electrical resistivity, CBR, soil, subgrade, new technologies

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Authors: Y. Yulnafatmawita, H. Hermansah

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Topography is a factor affecting soil characteristics. Chemical characteristics of a soil is a factor determining the productivity of the land. A research was conducted in Bukit Sarasah Padang, an area receiving > 5000 mm rainfall annually. The purpose of this research was to determine the chemical characteristics of soils at sequence topography in hill-slope of Bukit Sarasah. Soils were sampled at 3 different altitudes in the research area from 315 m – 515 m asl with 100 m interval. At each location, soil samples were taken from two depths (0-20 cm and 30-50 cm) for soil chemical characteristics (pH, CEC, organic-C, N-total, C/N, Ca-, Mg-, K-, Na-, Al-, and H-exchangeable). Based on the data resulted, it was found that there was a tendency of decreasing soil organic matter (SOC) content by increasing location from 315 to 515 m asl as well as from the top 0-20 cm to 30-50 cm soil depth. The same tendency was also found for the CEC, pH, N-total, and C/N ratio of the soil. On the other hand, exchangeable-Al and -H tended to increase by increasing elevation in Bukit Sarasah. There was no significant difference found for the concentration of exchangeable cations among the elevations and between the depths. The soil chemical characteristics on the top 20 cm were generally better than those on 30-50 cm soil depth, however, different elevation did not gave significant difference of the concentration.

Keywords: soil chemical characteristics, soil depths, topo-sequence, wet tropical area

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Authors: L. Mouzai, M. Bouhadef

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Raindrops and overland flow both are erosive parameters but they do not act by the same way. The overland flow alone tends to shear the soil horizontally and concentrates into rills. In the presence of rain, the soil particles are removed from the soil surface in the form of a uniform sheet layer. In addition to this, raindrops falling on the flow roughen the water and soil surface depending on the flow depth, and retard the velocity, therefore influence shear velocity and Manning’s factor. To investigate this part, agricultural sandy soil, rainfall simulator and a laboratory soil tray of 0.2x1x3 m were the base of this work. Five overland flow depths of 0; 3.28; 4.28; 5.16; 5.60; 5.80 mm were generated under a rainfall intensity of 217.2 mm/h. Sediment concentration control is based on the proportionality of depth/microtopography. The soil loose is directly related to the presence of rain splash on thin sheet flow. The effect of shear velocity on sediment concentration is limited by the value of 5.28 cm/s. In addition to this, the rain splash reduces the soil roughness by breaking the soil crests. The rainfall intensity is the major factor influencing depth and soil erosion. In the presence of rainfall, the shear velocity of the flow is due to two simultaneous effects. The first, which is horizontal, comes from the flow and the second, vertical, is due to the raindrops.

Keywords: flow resistance, laboratory experiments, rainfall simulator, sediment concentration, shear velocity, soil erosion

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Authors: K. O. Oriola, A. O. Raji, O. E. Akintola, O. T. Ismail

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Thermal properties of roots of three improved cassava varieties (TME419, TMS 30572, and TMS 0326) were determined on samples harvested at 12, 15 and 18 Months After Planting (MAP) conditioned to moisture contents of 50, 55, 60, 65, 70% (wb). Thermal conductivity at 12, 15 and 18 MAP ranged 0.4770 W/m.K to 0.6052W/m.K; 0.4804 W/m.K to 0.5530 W/m.K and 0.3764 to 0.6102 W/m.K respectively, thermal diffusivity from 1.588 to 2.426 x 10-7m2/s; 1.290 to 2.010 x 10-7m2/s and 0.1692 to 4.464 x 10-7m2/s and specific heat capacity from 2.3626 to 3.8991 kJ/kg.K; 1.8110 to 3.9703 kJ/kgK and 1.7311 to 3.8830 kJ/kg.K respectively within the range of moisture content studied across the varieties. None of the samples over the ages studied showed similar or definite trend in variation with others across the moisture content. However, second order polynomial models fitted all the data. Age on the other hand had a significant effect on the three thermal properties studied for TME 419 but not on thermal conductivity of TMS30572 and specific heat capacity of TMS 0326. Information obtained will provide better insight into thermal processing of cassava roots into stable products.

Keywords: thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity, specific heat capacity, moisture content, tuber age

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Authors: Magdi M. E. Zumrawi, Nehla Mansour

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This paper aims to assess the efficiency of using geogrid reinforcement for subgrade stabilization. The literature of applying geogrid reinforcement technique for pavements built on soft subgrades and the previous experiences were reviewed. Laboratory tests were conducted on soil reinforced with geogrids in one or several layers. The soil specimens were compacted in four layers with or without geogrid sheets. The California Bearing Ratio (CBR) test, in soaking condition, was performed on natural soil and soil-geogrid specimens. The test results revealed that the CBR value is much affected by the geogrid sheet location and the number of sheets used in the soil specimen. When a geogrid sheet was placed at the 1^st layer of the soil, there was an increment of 26% in the CBR value. Moreover, the CBR value was significantly increased by 62% when geogrid sheets were placed at all four layers. The high CBR value is attributed to interface friction and interlock involved in the geogrid/ soil interactions. It could be concluded that geogrid reinforcement is successful and more economical technique.

Keywords: geogrid, reinforcement, stabilization, subgrade

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Authors: A. Sarıkaya, A. Akın

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This study was carried out to investigate effects of Control (C), 18 bud/vine, 23 bud/vine, 28 bud/vine, 18 bud/vine + TKI-Humas (soil), 23 bud/vine + TKI-Humas (soil), 28 bud/vine + TKI-Humas (soil) applications on yield and yield components of Alphonse Lavallee grape cultivar. The results were obtained as the highest cluster weight (302.31 g) with 18 bud/vine application; the highest berry weight (6.31 g) with 23 bud/vine + TKI-Humas (soil) and (6.79 g) with 28 bud/vine + TKI-Humas (soil) applications; the highest maturity index (36.95) with 18 bud/vine + TKI-Humas (soil) application; the highest L* color intensity (33.99) with 18 bud/vine + TKI-Humas (soil); the highest a* color intensity (1.53) with 23 bud/vine + TKI-Humas (soil) application. The effects of applications on grape fresh yield, grape juice yield and b* color intensity values were not found statistically significant.

Keywords: Alphonse Lavallee grape cultivar, crop load, TKI-Humas substances (soil), yield, quality

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Authors: Seyed Abolhasan Naeini, Saeideh Mohammadi

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Embankment settlement on soft clays has always been problematic due to the high compaction and low shear strength of the soil. Deep soil mixing and geosynthetics are two soil improvement methods in such fields. Here, a numerical study is conducted on the embankment performance on the soft ground improved by deep soil mixing columns and geosynthetics based on the data of a real project. For this purpose, the finite element method is used in the Plaxis 2D software. The Soft Soil Creep model considers the creep phenomenon in the soft clay layer while the Mohr-Columb model simulates other soil layers. Results are verified using the data of an experimental embankment built on deep mixing columns. The effect of depth and diameter of deep mixing columns and the stiffness of geogrid on the vertical and horizontal movements of embankment on clay subsoil will be investigated in the following.

Keywords: PLAXIS 2D, embankment settlement, horizontal movement, deep soil mixing column, geogrid

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Authors: Luthfi Assholam Solamat

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Nowadays many people do not know the soil failure pattern as an important part in planning the under structure caused by the loading occurs. This is because the soil is located under the foundation, so it cannot be seen directly. Based on this study, the idea occurs to do a study for testing the soil failure pattern, especially the type of sand soil under the foundation. The necessity of doing this to the design of building structures on the land which is the initial part of the foundation structure that met with waves/vibrations during an earthquake. If the underground structure is not strong it is feared the building thereon more vulnerable to the risk of building damage. This research focuses on the search of soil failure pattern, which the most applicable in the field with the loading periodic re-testing of a particular time with the help of the integrated video visual observations performed. The results could be useful for planning under the structure in an effort to try the upper structure is minimal risk of the earthquake.

Keywords: soil failure pattern, earthquake, under structure, sand soil testing method

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Authors: Asma A. Parlin, K. Nakamura, N. Watanabe, T. Komai

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Understanding the effective diffusion of benzene vapor in the soil-atmosphere interface is important as an intrusion of benzene into the atmosphere from the soil is largely driven by diffusion. To analyze the vertical one dimensional effective diffusion of benzene vapor in porous medium with high water content, diffusion experiments were conducted in soil columns using Andosol soil and Toyoura silica sand with different water content; for soil water content was from 0 to 30 wt.% and for sand it was from 0.06 to 10 wt.%. In soil, a linear relation was found between water content and effective diffusion coefficient while the effective diffusion coefficient didn’t change in the sand with increasing water. A numerical transport model following unsteady-state approaches based on Fick’s second law was used to match the required time for a steady state of the gas phase concentration profile of benzene to the experimentally measured concentration profile gas phase in the column. The result highlighted that both the water content and porosity might increase vertical diffusion of benzene vapor in soil.

Keywords: benzene vapor-phase, effective diffusion, subsurface soil medium, unsteady state

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Authors: Paschalis Koutalakis, George N. Zaimes, Valasia Iakovoglou, Konstantinos Ioannou

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Mitigating soil erosion, especially in Mediterranean countries such as Greece, is essential in order to maintain environmental and agricultural sustainability. In this paper, scientific publications related to soil erosion studies in Greece were reviewed and categorized. To accomplish this, the online search engine of Scopus was used. The key words were “soil”, “erosion” and “Greece.” An analysis of the published articles was conducted at three levels: i) type of publication, ii) chronologic and iii) thematic. A hundred and ten publications published in scientific journals were reviewed. The results showed that the awareness regarding the soil erosion in Greece has increased only in the last decades. The publications covered a wide range of thematic categories such as the type of studied areas, the physical phenomena that trigger and influence the soil erosion, the negative anthropogenic impacts on them, the assessment tools that were used in order to examine the threat and the proper management. The analysis of these articles was significant and necessary in order to find the scientific gaps of soil erosion studies in Greece and help enhance the sustainability of soil management in the future.

Keywords: climate change, agricultural sustainability, environmental sustainability, soil management

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Authors: Fahad A. Alotaibi

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An increase in salt dissolution rate with continuous water flow is expected to lead to the progressive collapse of the soil structure. Evaluation of the relationship between soil salt dissolution and the variation of sabkha soil permeability in terms of type, rate, and quantity in order to assure construction safety in these environments. The current study investigates the relationship of soil permeability with the rate of dissolution of calcium (Ca2+), sulfate (SO4-2), chloride (CL−1), magnesium (Mg2+), sodium (Na+), and potassium (K+1) ions. Results revealed an increase in sabkha soil permeability with the rate of ions dissolution. This makes the efficiency of using a waterproofing stabilization agent in the reduction of sabkha salts dissolution the main criterion is selecting suitable stabilizing method.

Keywords: sabkha, permeability, salts, dissolution

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Authors: Ansong Richard Omari, Yosei Oikawa, Yoshiharu Fujii, Dorothea Sonoko Bellingrath-Kimura

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Renewed interest in soil management aimed at improving the productive capacity of Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) soils has called for the need to analyse the long term effect of different fertilization systems on soil. This study was conducted in two agroecological zones (i.e., Guinea Savannah (GS) and Deciduous forest (DF)) of Ghana to evaluate the impacts of long term (> 5 years) fertilization schemes on soil chemical and microbial properties. Soil samples under four different fertilization schemes (inorganic, inorganic and organic, organic, and no fertilization) were collected from 20 farmers` field in both agroecological zones. Soil analyses were conducted using standard procedures. All average soil quality parameters except extractable C, potential mineralizable nitrogen and CEC were significantly higher in DF sites compared to GS. Inorganic fertilization proved superior in soil chemical and microbial biomass especially in GS zone. In GS, soil deterioration index (DI) revealed that soil quality deteriorated significantly (−26%) under only organic fertilization system whereas soil improvement was observed under inorganic and no fertilization sites. In DF, either inorganic or organic and inorganic fertilization showed significant positive effects on soil quality. The high soil chemical composition and enhanced microbial biomass in DF were associated with the high rate of inorganic fertilization.

Keywords: deterioration index, fertilization scheme, microbial biomass, tropical agroecological zone

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Authors: Thi Lan Huong Nguyen, Motohei Kanayama, Takahiro Higashi, Van Chinh Le, Thu Ha Doan, Anh Daochu

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Waste from industrial sources, serves as sources of water for irrigating farms. The purpose of this study is to identify the impact of waste-water irrigation on the level of heavy metals in the soils. Soil samples were collected from the different locations from upstream to downstream of the Nhue River to evaluate heavy metal pollution. The results showed that the concentrations of all heavy metals in the soil samples in the farmland area were much higher than the background level in that area (1.2-2.6 mg/kg for Cd, 42-60 mg/kg for Cr, 22-62mg/kg for Cu, 30-86 mg/kg for Pb, 119-245 mg/kg for Zn, and 26-57 mg/kg for Ni), and exceeded the level of Vietnamese standard for agricultural soil for all heavy metals Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn except soil samples at upstream and downstream of the Nhue River.

Keywords: heavy metal, soil, Nhue River, wastewater irrigation

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Authors: Nor Fazlina Iryani Abdul Hamid, Mohamad Khatim Hasan

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Evolution of software quality measurement has been started since McCall introduced his quality model in year 1977. Starting from there, several software quality models and software quality measurement methods had emerged but none of them focused on telecommunication industry. In this paper, the implementation of software quality measurement system for telecommunication industry was compulsory to accommodate the rapid growth of telecommunication industry. The quality value of the telecommunication related software could be calculated using this system by entering the required parameters. The system would calculate the quality value of the measured system based on predefined quality metrics and aggregated by referring to the quality model. It would classify the quality level of the software based on Net Satisfaction Index (NSI). Thus, software quality measurement system was important to both developers and users in order to produce high quality software product for telecommunication industry.

Keywords: software quality, quality measurement, quality model, quality metric, net satisfaction index

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Authors: A. Armin, R. Fotouhi, W. Szyszkowski

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In this paper a 3-D finite element (FE) investigation of soil-blade interaction is described. The effects of blade’s shape and rake angle are examined both numerically and experimentally. The soil is considered as an elastic-plastic granular material with non-associated Drucker-Prager material model. Contact elements with different properties are used to mimic soil-blade sliding and soil-soil cutting phenomena. A separation criterion is presented and a procedure to evaluate the forces acting on the blade is given and discussed in detail. Experimental results were derived from tests using soil bin facility and instruments at the University of Saskatchewan. During motion of the blade, load cells collect data and send them to a computer. The measured forces using load cells had noisy signals which are needed to be filtered. The FE results are compared with experimental results for verification. This technique can be used in blade shape optimization and design of more complicated blade’s shape.

Keywords: finite element analysis, experimental results, blade force, soil-blade contact modeling

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Authors: Ayuko Itsuki, Sachiyo Aburatani

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Soil enzyme activities in Kasuga-yama Hill Primeval Forest (Nara, Japan) were examined to determine levels of mineralization and metabolism. Samples were selected from the soil surrounding laurel-leaved (B_B-1) and Carpinus japonica (B_B-2 and P_w) trees for analysis. Cellulase, β-xylosidase, and protease activities were higher in B_B-1 samples those in B_B-2 samples. These activity levels corresponded to the distribution of cellulose and hemicellulose in the soil horizons. Cellulase, β-xylosidase, and chymotrypsin activities were higher in soil from the P_w forest than in that from the B_B-2 forest. The relationships between the soil enzymes calculated by Spearman’s rank correlation indicate that the interactions between enzymes in B_B-2 samples were more complex than those in P_w samples.

Keywords: comparative analysis, enzyme activities, forest soil, Spearman's rank correlation

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Authors: Fatai Olakunle Ogundele

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Road construction is increasingly common in today's world as human development expands and people increasingly rely on cars for transportation on a daily basis. The construction of a large network of roads has dramatically altered the landscape and impacted well-being in a number of deleterious ways. In addition, the road can also shift population demographics and be a source of pollution into the environment. Road construction activities normally result in changes in alteration of the soil's physical properties through soil compaction on the road itself and on adjacent areas and chemical and biological properties, among other effects. Understanding roadside soil properties that are influenced by road construction activities can serve as a basis for formulating conservation-based management strategies. Therefore, this study examined the effects of road construction on soil properties and soil organic carbon along Lagos Badagry Expressway, Lagos, Nigeria. The study adopted purposive sampling techniques and 40 soil samples were collected at a depth of 0 – 30cm from each of the identified road intersections and infrastructures using a soil auger. The soil samples collected were taken to the laboratory for soil properties and carbon stock analysis using standard methods. Both descriptive and inferential statistical techniques were applied to analyze the data obtained. The results revealed that soil compaction inhibits ecological succession on roadsides in that increased compaction suppresses plant growth as well as causes changes in soil quality.

Keywords: highway, soil properties, organic carbon, road construction, land degradation

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Authors: Ji-Yuan Lin, Yu-Ming Liou, Yi-Ting Chen, Chen-Syuan Lin

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Soil water index obtained by tank model is now commonly used in soil and sand disaster alarm system in Japan. Comparing with the rainfall trigging index in Taiwan, the tank model is easy to predict the slope water content on large-scale landslide. Therefore, this study aims to estimate the threshold value of large-scale landslide using the soil water index Sixteen typhoons and heavy rainfall events, were selected to establish the, to relationship between landslide event and soil water index. Finally, the proposed threshold values for landslides on country road No.89 are suggested in this study. The study results show that 95% landslide cases occurred in soil water index more than 125mm, and 30% of the more serious slope failure occurred in the soil water index is greater than 250mm. Beside, this study speculates when soil water index more than 250mm and the difference value between second tank and third tank less than -25mm, it leads to large-scale landslide more probably.

Keywords: soil water index, tank model, landslide, threshold values

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Authors: Abdel Khalek Selim, Safaa Mahmoud

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Experiments were designed to study nitrogen loss through leaching in soil columns treated with different nitrogen sources and elemental sulfur. The soil material (3 kg alluvial or calcareous soil) were packed in Plexiglas columns (10 cm diameter). The soil columns were treated with 2 g N in the form of Ca(NO3)2, urea, urea + inhibitor (Nitrapyrin), another set of these treatments was prepared to add elemental sulfur. During incubation period, leaching was performed by applying a volume of water that allows the percolation of 250-ml water throughout the soil column. The leachates were analyzed for NH4-N and N03-N. After 10 weeks, soil columns were cut into four equal segments and analyzed for ammonium, nitrate, and total nitrogen. Results indicated the following: Ca(NO3)2 treatment showed a rapid NO3 leaching, especially in the first 3 weeks, in both clay and calcareous soils. This means that soil texture did not play any role in this respect. Sulfur addition also did not affect the rate of NO3 leaching. In urea treatment, there was a steady increase of NH4- and NO3–N from one leachate to another. Addition of sulfur with urea slowed down the nitrification process and decreased N losses. Clay soil contained residual N much more than calcareous soil. Almost one-third of added nitrogen might have been immobilized by soil microorganisms or lost through other loss paths. Nitrification inhibitor can play a role in preserving added nitrogen from being lost through leaching. Combining the inhibitor with elemental sulfur may help to stabilize certain preferred ratio of NH4 to NO3 in the soil for the benefit of the growing plants.

Keywords: alluvial soil, calcareous soil, elemental sulfur, nitrate leaching

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Authors: A. Ghasemipanah, R. Ziaie Moayed, H. Niroumand

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Improving the geotechnical properties of soil has always been one of the issues in geotechnical engineering. Traditional materials have been used to improve and stabilize soils to date, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. Although the soil stabilization by adding materials such as cement, lime, bitumen, etc. is one of the effective methods to improve the geotechnical properties of soil, but nanoparticles are one of the newest additives which can improve the loose soils. This research is intended to study the effect of adding nanobentonite on soil engineering properties, especially the unconfined compression strength and maximum dry unit weight, using clayey soil with low liquid limit (CL) from Kerman (Iran). Nanobentonite was mixed with soil in three different percentages (i.e. 3, 5, 7% by weight of the parent soil) with different curing time (1, 7 and 28 days). The unconfined compression strength, liquid and plastic limits and plasticity index of treated specimens were measured by unconfined compression and Atterberg limits test. It was found that increase in nanobentonite content resulted in increase in the unconfined compression strength, liquid and plastic limits of the clayey soil and reduce in plasticity index.

Keywords: nanobentonite particles, clayey soil, unconfined compression stress, soil improvement.

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Authors: Paula Lopez-Arce, Hector Altamirano, Dimitrios Rovas, James Berry, Bryan Hindle, Steven Hodgson

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Efficient mould remediation and accurate moisture diagnostics leading to condensation and mould growth in dwellings are largely untapped. Number of factors are contributing to the rising trend of excessive moisture in homes mainly linked with modern living, increased levels of occupation and rising fuel costs, as well as making homes more energy efficient. Environmental monitoring by means of data collection though loggers sensors and survey forms has been performed in a range of buildings from different UK regions. Air and surface temperature and relative humidity values of residential areas affected by condensation and/or mould issues were recorded. Additional measurements were taken through different trials changing type, location, and position of loggers. In some instances, IR thermal images and ventilation rates have also been acquired. Results have been interpreted together with environmental key parameters by processing and connecting data from loggers and survey questionnaires, both in buildings with and without moisture issues. Monitoring exercises carried out during Winter and Spring time show the importance of developing and following accurate protocols for guidance to obtain consistent, repeatable and comparable results and to improve the performance of environmental monitoring. A model and a protocol are being developed to build a diagnostic tool with the goal of performing a simple but precise residential atmospheric moisture diagnostics to distinguish the cause entailing condensation and mould generation, i.e., ventilation, insulation or heating systems issue. This research shows the relevance of monitoring and processing environmental data to assign moisture risk levels and determine the origin of condensation or mould when dealing with a building atmospheric moisture excess.

Keywords: environmental monitoring, atmospheric moisture, protocols, mould

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Authors: Helena Dvořáčková, Mikajlo Irina, Záhora Jaroslav, Elbl Jakub

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Biochar can be produced from the waste matter and its application has been associated with returning of carbon in large amounts into the soil. The impacts of this material on physical and chemical properties of soil have been described. The biggest part of the research work is dedicated to the hypothesis of this material’s toxic effects on the soil life regarding its effect on the soil biological component. At present, it has been worked on methods which could eliminate these undesirable properties of biochar. One of the possibilities is to mix biochar with organic material, such as compost, or focusing on the natural processes acceleration in the soil. In the experiment has been used as the addition of compost as well as the elimination of toxic substances by promoting microbial activity in aerated water environment. Biochar was aerated for 7 days in a container with a volume of 20 l. This way modified biochar had six times higher biomass production and reduce mineral nitrogen leaching. Better results have been achieved by mixing biochar with compost.

Keywords: leaching of nitrogen, soil, biochar, compost

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Authors: Nagini Sabbineni, Rajini T. V. Kanth, B. V. Kiranmayee

Abstract:

India’s economy primarily depends on agriculture yield growth and their allied agro industry products. The agriculture yield prediction is the toughest task for agricultural departments across the globe. The agriculture yield depends on various factors. Particularly countries like India, majority of agriculture growth depends on rain water, which is highly unpredictable. Agriculture growth depends on different parameters, namely Water, Nitrogen, Weather, Soil characteristics, Crop rotation, Soil moisture, Surface temperature and Rain water etc. In our paper, lot of Explorative Data Analysis is done and various predictive models were designed. Further various regression models like Linear, Multiple Linear, Non-linear models are tested for the effective prediction or the forecast of the agriculture yield for various crops in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states.

Keywords: agriculture yield growth, agriculture yield prediction, explorative data analysis, predictive models, regression models

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Authors: Chris George, Adam Hamlin, Lily Pereg, Richard Charlesworth, Gal Winter

Abstract:

Background: According to the ‘hygiene hypothesis’ the current rise in allergies and autoimmune diseases stems mainly from reduced microbial exposure due, amongst other factors, to urbanisation and distance from soil. However, this hypothesis is based on epidemiological and not biological data. Useful insights into the underlying mechanisms of this hypothesis can be gained by studying our interaction with soil. Soil microbiota may be directly ingested or inhaled by humans, enter the body through skin-soil contact or using plants as vectors. This study aims to examine the ability of soil microbiota to colonise the gut, study the interaction of soil microbes with the immune system and their potential protective activity. Method: The nutrition of the rats was supplemented daily with fresh or autoclaved soil for 21 days followed by 14 days of no supplementations. Faecal samples were collected throughout and analysed using 16S sequencing. At the end of the experiment rats were sacrificed and tissues and digesta were collected. Results/Conclusion: Results showed significantly higher richness and diversity following soil supplementation even after recovery. Specific soil microbial groups identified as able to colonise the gut. Of particular interest was the mucosal layer which emerged as a receptive host for soil microorganisms. Histological examination revealed innate and adaptive immune activation. Findings of this study reinforce the ‘hygiene hypothesis’ by demonstrating the ability of soil microbes to colonise the gut and activate the immune system. This paves the way for further studies aimed to examine the interaction of soil microorganisms with the immune system.

Keywords: gut microbiota, hygiene hypothesis, microbiome, soil

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Authors: Lennon Furtado, Sandro Oliveira

Abstract:

The importance of an effective measurement program lies in the ability to control and predict what can be measured. Thus, the measurement program has the capacity to provide bases in decision-making to support the interests of an organization. Therefore, it is only possible to apply for an effective measurement program with a team of software engineers well trained in the measurement area. However, the literature indicates that are few computer science courses that have in their program the teaching of the software measurement process. And even these, generally present only basic theoretical concepts of said process and little or no measurement in practice, which results in the student's lack of motivation to learn the measurement process. In this context, according to some experts in software process improvements, one of the most used approaches to maintaining the motivation and commitment to software process improvements program is the use of the gamification. Therefore, this paper aims to present a proposal of teaching the measurement process by gamification. Which seeks to improve student motivation and performance in the assimilation of tasks related to software measurement, by incorporating elements of games into the practice of measurement process, making it more attractive for learning. And as a way of validating the proposal will be made a comparison between two distinct groups of 20 students of Software Quality class, a control group, and an experiment group. The control group will be the students that will not make use of the gamification proposal to learn software measurement process, while the experiment group, will be the students that will make use of the gamification proposal to learn software measurement process. Thus, this paper will analyze the objective and subjective results of each group. And as objective result will be analyzed the student grade reached at the end of the course, and as subjective results will be analyzed a post-course questionnaire with the opinion of each student about the teaching method. Finally, this paper aims to prove or refute the following hypothesis: If the gamification proposal to teach software measurement process does appropriate motivate the student, in order to attribute the necessary competence to the practical application of the measurement process.

Keywords: education, gamification, software measurement process, software engineering

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Authors: Lican Guzmán, José Manuel Lattus, Mariana Cervetto, Mauricio Calderón

Abstract:

Today the estimation of effects produced by climate change in high Andean wetland environments is confronted by big challenges. This study provides a way to an analysis by remote sensing how some Ambiental aspects have evolved on the Maricunga salt flat in the last 30 years, divided into the summer and winter seasons, and if global warming is conditioning these changes. The first step to achieve this goal was the recompilation of geological, hydrological, and morphometric antecedents to ensure an adequate contextualization of its environmental parameters. After this, software processing and analysis of Landsat 5,7 and 8 satellite imagery was required to get the vegetation, water, surface temperature, and soil moisture indexes (NDVI, NDWI, LST, and SMI) in order to see how their spatial-temporal conditions have evolved in the area of study during recent decades. Results show a tendency of regular increase in surface temperature and disponibility of water during both seasons but with slight drought periods during summer. Soil moisture factor behaves as a constant during the dry season and with a tendency to increase during wintertime. Vegetation analysis shows an areal and quality increase of its surface sustained through time that is consistent with the increase of water supply and temperature in the basin mentioned before. Roughly, the effects of climate change can be described as positive for the Maricunga salt flat; however, the lack of exact correlation in dates of the imagery available to remote sensing analysis could be a factor for misleading in the interpretation of results.

Keywords: global warming, geology, SIG, Atacama Desert, Salar de Maricunga, environmental geology, NDVI, SMI, LST, NDWI, Landsat

Procedia PDF Downloads 54